Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade says comeback stars Luke Darcy and Robert Murphy are both struggling for confidence after recovering from serious knee injuries.

Ruckman-forward Darcy and key forward Murphy both returned to football in the pre-season.

Darcy had his past two seasons ruined by consecutive knee ligament injuries, while Murphy missed the second half of last season.

While they showed promising form in practice matches, they have so far failed to have much impact in the home and away season and Eade said the difficulties involved in returning after major surgery had perhaps been underestimated.

"Their pre-seasons were good and their practice matches were okay but it's probably a step up in class when you get to the normal season," Eade said.

"Certainly internally maybe our expectations are a bit high and probably the supporters as well.

"Both are struggling a bit at the moment, I think Luke's been okay in the ruck and I think it's a confidence issue, nobody really knows, there are not many guys who have done two knees.

"He just seems to be lacking confidence going for his marks as a forward.

"Murph is I think still feeling his way.

"You need the confidence and probably subconsciously it's just getting used to the pace of the game again, so both are down a bit at the moment to what we probably would like them to be."

The pair's lack of impact up forward was felt in Saturday night's 50-point defeat to St Kilda at Telstra Dome, with the Bulldogs scoring only nine goals.

Eade said his side as a whole was lacking in confidence, with many top players out of form.

"You can't go to the shop and buy confidence, so I think you get your confidence back through hard work, just doing the basics right," he said.

"In cricket terms I don't think you try and hit a six every ball, you've got to play a straight bat and get the ones and the twos.

"You get the confidence just from knowing your preparation's right and your hard work and looking at the little things, the tackles and chases."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP